Protestors looking to steal a bit of Apple's iPad launch day thunder are preparing to hold demonstrations at various Apple Store locations on Friday in hopes of spreading awareness about the labor conditions in the Chinese factories making the device.

The protestors, lead by organizer Mark Shields, will take advantage of the hype surrounding the new iPad's launch and hold multi-store demonstrations when retail locations open at 8 a.m. in Washington, D.C., New York City and San Francisco.

Despite Apple's continuing efforts toward bettering labor conditions in its contracted factories in China, Shields says that more can be done.

“It’s great to see Apple taking important steps like the factory audit this month, and pay raises for the factory workers,” Shields said. “But Apple hasn’t crossed the finish line yet. New product releases, like the iPad 3 this week, have typically been the most dangerous for workers because of the incredible pressure they are under to meet release production deadlines.”

Shields' online petition asking for the protection of Chinese factory workers has gathered over 251,000 signatures, and has sparked a media blitz regarding the conditions under which Apple products are made. The movement first gained momentum when a pair of New York Times reports investigated major Chinese electronics builder Foxconn, which is a major Apple contractor, over alleged worker abuse.

Despite Foxconn's impressive client list of electronic heavyweights that include Microsoft, HP and Sony, the burden of guilt has been placed squarely on Apple by Change.org and SumOfUs.org.

In response to the mounting criticism, Apple asked the Fair Labor Association to conduct an inspection of its third-party suppliers in Asia. Although the FLA noted that Foxconn's factories were "first class," the auditors did find that many issues needed to be resolved. Workers at the factory later claimed that Foxconn hid underage workers from inspectors in order to avoid scrutiny.

In Apple's annual supplier code of conduct, employees may be aged 16 to 18 years old if they can legally work, though special restrictions limit the type and amount of work they perform.

Most recently, it was reported that Apple allegedly conducted an inspection of an iPad factory run by Chinese company Pegatron immediately before a blast occurred that injured 61 people. The claim brings into question whether Apple's audits are effective in stopping workplace accidents.

The planned Friday protests follow a series of demonstrations in February, though the high turnout for the iPad launch is expected to bring a larger media presence for Change.org to exploit.

Nothing is forcing these Chinese workers to keep their jobs. They are allowed to take whatever job they are qualified for. Maybe these protestors should visit the factories where the workers work on dirt floors with no food breaks to make the cheap crap you buy at Walmart. Where's the outrage over that?

When you are as big as Apple you are going to be used for this purpose. And Apple indeed needs to maintain public trust, so I think so far they have been making all the right moves. But this is here to stay.

Why not go after the source, the government of China? If you really want to right wrongs, start there. Oh, that's right, they're too mean and inscrutible. That job is too h-a-a-a-r-r-r-d. Easier to go after the low hanging fruit and make Apple pay for the wrongs of others.

Protestors looking to steal a bit of Apple's iPad launch day thunder are preparing to hold demonstrations at various Apple Store locations on Friday in hopes of spreading awareness about the labor conditions in the Chinese factories making the device.

Good for them. Nothing will change unless proper publicity is given to the situation.

I hope that they expand their efforts to the other electronics giants as well.

What's the difference between these lunatics and the Westboro Church protesters? Not much I'd say. They're both shameless publicity whores and delusional radicals who go around spreading their extremely offensive and braindead ideas.

Hopefully the police will come and arrest them for being a public nuisance, disturbing the peace and for holding an illegal protest if they lack all of the necessary permits. Luckily for them, I won't be waiting in any Apple store line tomorrow, because I don't take too kindly to any dipshits.

That guy is wearing a nice coat and scarf that probably cost more than a month wages for the Chinese workers who made it.

Exactly. If he were wearing a woven hemp rag and looked a bit disheveled, I could maybe see that. However, when you dress like that...maybe you could do more too. More than just sit on the sidelines (and from how he dresses...probably drove to the sidelines in style too...but thats speculation...maybe he showed up in a rusty '91 Ford Festiva...who knows) and cry foul cause you want to make some kind of socio-ethical statement and pretend that you're doing something good for mankind.

Its the whole material-centric attitude that he's going after. We want want want and since we want lots of iPads and we want them now...its a lot of pressure for the Chinese that produce them. I get that. But you can't show up to a protest looking like that and spout that kind of message when you're trying to dress like something out of an Express or Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.

It's like these people forget that these people working in these factories are literally carrying their families with their income. It's like people saying "don't buy rugs from India." What? why not? These people work their butts off, DESPITE the conditions, to support their families. Apple is doing the most good for the workers over there. I mean, my goodness. Wasn't there like, a few HUGE audits over there as well as news coverage that clearly states that the workers are really not in a bad situation?

These people are much lower than the people they are attacking. Just loving that free press. "look at my nice hair and shaved face and nice scarf." Douche bags.

"Being in power is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't." - Margaret Thatcher

What's the difference between these lunatics and the Westboro Church protesters? Not much I'd say. They're both shameless publicity whores and delusional radicals who go around spreading their extremely offensive and braindead ideas.

Hopefully the police will come and arrest them for being a public nuisance, disturbing the peace and for holding an illegal protest if they lack all of the necessary permits. Luckily for them, I won't be waiting in any Apple store line tomorrow, because I don't take too kindly to any dipshits.

Don't you know any other tunes? Invest in a thesaurus, maybe you'll sound a little more civil and mature.

Protestors looking to steal a bit of Apple's iPad launch day thunder are preparing to hold demonstrations at various Apple Store locations on Friday in hopes of spreading awareness about the labor conditions in the Chinese factories making the device.

Please, folks. If you see these people try to politely express your difference of opinion. We don't need to give them any free publicity with an "incident".

These people need to go picket Dell, Microsoft and every other tech company because all of them including the asian tech giants like sony, samsung, LG, Sharp and dozens of others use foxconn.
They also need to get a life. No company in the industry is doing more than apple. In fact no company in the industry is doing anything BUT Apple.

Work on the companies that are not trying instead of defaming the ONE that IS.

Good luck to them. Clearly their campaign is working given the amount of time and effort Apple is putting in to change things at Foxconn.

Apple was doing something long before these morons even had a voice. Apple is not reacting to there protests, they Signed up for the inspections and were looking into factory conditions long before any of these dorks even started thinking of protesting. They can't even get there facts right they even said it was an apple factory the mass suicides were threatened at, it wasn't it was a foxconn factory building Xboxes. Where are the protests agains Microsoft? Last time I looked Microsoft was a 262 billion market cap company they could afford to DO SOMETHING TOO.

Nothing is forcing these Chinese workers to keep their jobs. They are allowed to take whatever job they are qualified for. Maybe these protestors should visit the factories where the workers work on dirt floors with no food breaks to make the cheap crap you buy at Walmart. Where's the outrage over that?

or what about the other clients at Foxconn. How many fires and explosions have they had. what happened after the 100 workers building X box units threatened to jump off that roof.

Apple is only one of some 70 clients that have products built at Foxconn factories. Who is starting petitions for the other 69 groups. Who is demonstrating for them. etc